That's Chef Instructor Moore on the left;
Mrs. Gloria Newell, aka Mama Newell, on the right.
I was blessed to witness all manners of passion from the petite red head this past week, from anger over improperly stored produce to dealing with last minute changes. She handled them all.
She's ever mindful of the quality of the program and the safety and well-being of all her students, not to mention the health of the public. And! If a student truly desires to know more than offered in the program, she can handle that as well.
One of the happiest days of my culinary education...
I often feel the need to mother her, to nurture the head of the department as one of my own, she's just that endearing, often having to give myself a good mental shaking to keep from putting a ribbon in her hair. She's strong enough without my encouragement; she does have a mother already, although it doesn't stop the occasional text from being sent. Sometimes, this gray matter forgets that she's not a peer, that I am not her equal in culinary skills.
She's beating the butter down for puff pastry: NOT
a skill I'm finding necessary to master, given the availability
of it everywhere, even at the Pig...
Chef Instructor Moore has a tough job, keeping all of us in line while teaching the finer points of culinary arts in the hospitality industry. It's not a position I'd ever desire but I'm thankful she has it, merely grateful to have her presence in this life. Sometimes being in the lead position isn't the most popular, but she's leading us forward (sometimes kicking and screaming) to excellence, making the Jones County Junior College Culinary Arts Technology program the place to be in the South for a remarkable education.
And she's also very generous with praise when we've
deserved it!
Her program consistently produces graduates ready for whatever commercial kitchen or front of the house position or, like myself, cakery institution they've a mind to work in, sufficiently schooled by the mind and sometimes emotionally sappy spirit of the petite red head I'm fortunate to call Chef Moore. Thank you, ma'am, for being here!
